BREAKING: Doorwoman Fights Husband’s Deportation With Support from Her Union, Community

As Draconian Deportations Accelerate Under Trump Administration, 32BJ and Allies to Protest at ICE Building after Yahaira Burgos’s Husband Arrested at Meeting with ICE Officials

What: Rally with Yaharia Burgos to Demand Release of Her Husband Juan Vivares from ICE Detention

Who: Yahaira Burgos, an Upper East Side doorwoman who’s husband was just taken into detention at ICE offices in Lower Mannhattan this morning; members of her union 32BJ and President Hector Figueroa; elected officials; Community allies including New Sanctuary Coalition of NYC, New York Immigration Coalition, Make the Road, African Communities Together, NY Taxi Workers Alliance, UNITE Here Local 100, American Friends Service Committee, Black Alliance for Just Immigration

NEW YORK— Union and community members will stand with Yahaira Burgos as she fights for the release of her husband Juan Vivares who was detained this morning after a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a meeting at their offices in Manhattan.

Yahaira, a Manhattan doorwoman, and her lawyer say her husband, who was recently denied his asylum claim based on a technical issue, should be allowed to stay in the country and have filed a stay against his deportation. Juan was forced to flee Colombia in 2011 due to political violence and now he and his wife also fear for his safety if he’s forced to return.

The couple have a young son and Juan, an electrician, cares for their baby during Yahaira’s overnight shifts at a building on the Upper East Side. With good jobs they are close to fulfilling the American Dream and buying a home but now this dream is in jeopardy for Yahaira and her son, both US citizens, and for Juan if he is deported.

32BJ and its allies are fighting to keep families like this one together and will rally with Yahaira against the draconian policies that are now tearing so many families apart.

Visuals: Union members and allies there with signs, including “Families Belong Together” and “Justice for Juan”

With more than 163,000 members, including more than 80,000 in New York City, 32BJ SEIU is one of the largest unions representing immigrant workers in the country.
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